Dkcembeb 4, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



831 



R. C. MossMAN : The Meteorology of Edin- 

 burgh. Transactions Roy. Soc. Edinb., Vol. 

 XXXVIII., Part III., No. 20, 1896. Con- 

 tains the reductions of observations made in 

 Edinburgh during the past 132 years, with 

 colored plates illustrating some of the prin- 

 cipal features of the climatology of the city. 



Th. Arendt : Die Bestimmung des Wasser- 

 dampfgehaltes der Atmosphdre auf Grund 

 ^ektroskopischer Messungen. Met. Zeitschr., 

 Oct., 1896, 376-390. The results of an in- 

 vestigation carried on at the Potsdam Ob- 

 servatory during 1895 and 1896. 



R. DeC. Ward. 



Haevaed University. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 ARATJCANIAN STUDIES. 



The excellent studies of Dr. Rudolfo 

 Lenz in modern Araucanian have already 

 been mentioned in these notes. A new in- 

 stalment of them includes dialogues in the 

 Pechuenche dialect, some small original 

 pieces in the Picunche and Huilliche dia- 

 lects (Spanish and Araucanian) and a col- 

 lection (72 pages) of Araucanian tales and 

 stories published in German in Valparaiso. 

 The latter are divided into mythological 

 tales, animal stories, others of European 

 origin and some songs. They are interest- 

 ing examples of the present condition of 

 folk-lore among these intelligent natives. 



No other investigations into the language 

 of the aborigines of Chili equal in method 

 and accuracy these of Dr. Lenz. They are, 

 in fact, models of their kind. 



The language itself is one of beauty and 

 strength. Indeed, in the last century the 

 missionary Haverstadt was so impressed 

 with its resources that in 1777 he published 

 a work upon it (' Chilidugu ') in advocacy 

 of its adoption as an universal tongue for 

 the world, a ready-made Volapuk. 



The publication of Dr. Lenz can be ob- 

 tained through Karl M. Hiersemann, 

 Konigsplatz 2, Leipzig, Germany. 



RACE degeneration IN THE SOUTHERN 

 STATES. 



An unusually thoughtful article appears 

 in the Bulletin of the American Academy 

 of Medicine (Vol. II., No. 9), by Dr. John 

 T. Searcy, superintendent of the insane 

 asylum at Tuscaloosa, Ala. The subject 

 treated is insanity in the South, and its re- 

 lations to race were brought out promi- 

 nently. Some of these may be noted. 



The native American (white) when in- 

 sane is more adaptable to his environment 

 than any other stock. The American In- 

 dian is just the opposite — not at all adapt- 

 able to new conditions. Insanity is a symp- 

 tom of a race- degenerating process. It is 

 more observable in negroes since the Civil 

 War,as, compared to the condition of slavery, 

 " degeneracy is increasing in the majority of 

 the negroes." The whites are less so, be- 

 cause '' during the time of slavery brain 

 idleness and brain injury prevailed to a 

 greater extent among the whites than at 

 present. ' ' Compared with his previous con- 

 dition in Africa, the negro was much better 

 off as a slave in America than he ever was 

 before. This general improvement in his 

 condition showed itself in the absence of 

 mental degeneracy. His present types of 

 insanity ' show the same race traits in the 

 hospital which they do on the outside.' 

 That is, they are more emotional, and yet 

 his delusions are weaker and more transient. 



D. G. Brinton. 



Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 

 In the last Chemical News Prof. Brauner, 

 of the University of Prague, discusses the 

 theory that argon is a polymer of nitrogen, 

 Nj, and helium a polymer of hydrogen, H^, 

 or more probably a mixture of Hg and H^. 

 His argument is directed almost solely 

 against the elementary nature of argon and 

 helium and the arguments which have been 

 put forward to show that argon is not N,. 



